Clash of the Titans
by Lord StarScream
Summary: On the world of Valerus IV, an invasion by the forces of Chaos has endangered the forces Crusading to recover the Sabaat Worlds from the horrors of being ruled by petty tyrants and demonic legions. Here the Imperial Battle Titans must hold against the worst the Archenemy can throw at them to win a battle for the fate of the Crusade. (All Warhammer 40k material belongs to GW)


**Clash of the Titans**

Its name was _Megarion_. An Emperor-Class battle titan, the machine towered sixty-five metres over the ground on which it walked. Princeps Duran Mel sniffed the battlefield with the impressive array of sensors that rendered the distortions common in war to nothing, looking for another target. Her amniotic tank was overflowing with wires that connected her to the _Megarion_ and made them whole. Each earth shaking step felt like her own as she strode upon the ground as if she were a god. The princeps smiled grimly as she spotted an enemy Warlord through the large pillars of smoke.

Both of her moderati quickly began scanning in front of them to lock in the target so that the cogitators could compensate for the massive recoil of the titan's mighty guns. "Enemy engine sighted, confirmed range of 856 meters to the north-east. Has the Plasma Annihilator finished the charge cycle?" asked Duran. Lethe blinked to bring up the readings for their starboard arm mount. "We need to rest the Hellstorm canon." Duran could feel the heat aching uncomfortably in her left arm in sympathy.

"It is ready to fire, my princeps but only partially. At our current range we only have enough power to fire one blast powerful enough to overwhelm the void shields. My recommendation is that we take the shot and finish it." She said with her flesh voice. "They look weak, barely able to maintain cohesion. Right now it's very vulnerable."

"Agreed. " Duran said eagerly. The machine spirit of _Megarion_ roared and thrashed against its chains within her mind as it smelled its enemy's nearness. Duran struggled to contain the great spirit, barely stopping herself from screaming with the rage that emanated from the almost feral nature of _Megarion_. Though not exactly intelligent the mind of a god-machine was a force to reckon with and every princeps had to deal with the possibility of being consumed by them and losing their sanity. That day wasn't today Duran thought while gritting her teeth.

Ratcheri, her second moderati, turned in his chair to face Duran. He yelled, "The target is retreating!"

Duran brought up her right limb and steadied the titan as she prepared to take the shot at the Archenemy's war machine. Though their connection was less intense the moderati still bared their teeth with the inherited blood-lust of their titan. Princeps Duran took a deep breath and anchored herself as she got ready to fight.

"My moderati, move to two-thirds flank pace. Track it while I enter the Manifold, I _won't_ lose this one."

Her stride increased in speed as she plunged into the Manifold, the glorious information place created by the Adeptus Mechanicus that connected through which she realized her titan and the environment. Streams of data flowed in rivers at a speed that would fry un-augmented mind with a fraction of the output that flashed through her mind. For a second, an eternity in the Manifold, she disengaged from physical reality completely.

Valerus IV had been invaded by a Chaos armada bearing the legions of unholy monsters and warriors devoted to the Dark Gods to be unleashed upon the Imperial citizens of the planet, while also endangering the supply lines of part of the Sabaat Crusade's forces. In response the nearby forge world of Cyberteria had dispatched its virgin titans with an incoming Liberation fleet of 1,000+ vessels to stop them. Newly minted Princeps Senioris Duran Mel had been given command of the ancient and venerable war machine as a member of the Legio Ignatum, one of the oldest Legio's serving the Imperium.

This was her first execution with _Megarion _but its victory banners were long from over ten thousand years of service, since before the Horus Heresy against many foes. The legions of dead and enemies laid low by the engine were beyond count. But now they would bear the names of battles she won, enemies she slew.

No one would forget the time she served as the master of _Megarion_.

Info-packets and data streams from the other Imperial forces in her sector coalesced into a picture of the hell that had come to this world. She grimaced as a cluster of icons representing the 17th Saturnine Hoplites in the Third Front begin to flash yellow as they signaled a rapid retreat on the west flank. They had had just broken through the heretical bastards line a moment ago! Before she could examine the scene more closely the feeds began to hiss and became distorted.

Damn them. What the hell was going on over there? Almost absent mindedly, she returned enough to loose a retina scarring bright spear of light that killed the retreating Reaver.

A ping alerted her to a transmission from the desperate Imperial Guardsmen on the vox. Desperately a soldier said, "Where the frak are the titans? We can't take that! OH GOD-"the vox cut off in a blast of static. Then in the rapid binary speak of those modified in the service of the Mechanicus, Duran canted Where are the supporting titans for the Third Front?

Ratcheri looked at the auspex as it struggled to get a solid reading through the interference. He replied The _Indominatus Imperius _and _Deus Nixios _are listed as the supporting engines for the lead elements of the Third Front. The auspex is having trouble reading them.

Open a channel to them immediately.

Lethe cursed as she tried opening a channel but the interference was too fierce. Any connection was clipped by the tainted scrap code that pervaded the open waves that made it hard to secure a good vox is having trouble establishing a connection.

Damnation! her code stream was full of frustration. Before anyone could say anything else a horrendous death cry of dying code to rend the air, causing Duran to cringe as she was wracked with the last pains. She tasted the terror and final agonies of _Indominatus_, a Reaver who had deployed as part of the Ignatum contingent. Its princeps Varus Drake had been a good friend…

Reset the vox net. Then boost the signal with the auxiliary comm. mast, we need to find out what the hell is going on! Durand growled. Vengeance would be had for _Indominatus _before the day was through. Ratcheri briefly canted You focus on the vox, I'll take care of our weapons. His smile was short and fatigued.

The rest of the bridge crew still looked shaky from the ordeal. For them the feedback had been less severe but none of them was unshaken by the cry of a god-machine in its death throes. Lethe shuddered as a feeling of coldness had gripped her but she shook it off. A moderati can't just go to pieces in the middle of a war after all.

She jumped when she heard This is _Deus Nixios_, what can we do for you? canted the moderati in crisp binary. The situation is quite dire over here, in case you were wondering.

My Princeps, I have established a link with _Nixios_! Lethe canted with a grin.

Tell your Princeps to commence inload moderati. Ordered Duran.

Complying…

A holographic image fluttered into existence in front of Duran. "What the hell is going on over there Eisen?" she demanded. "_Indominatus _perished and the Hoplites are being hammered!"

His face was grave. "Our intelligence was off, damnit. Those Legio Mortis reinforcements have arrived and they have a thrice-damned Imperator with them." The mention of another Imperator caused Duran to cease breathing for a moment, unnecessary though it was.

"Another Imperator? _Here_?"

"An Emperor-Class Imperator, Duran. It was hiding behind that mountain range and caught us completely off guard. The rest of their battle group is spreading out to cover the holes we've been punching in their lines, but it's pushing forward. That damned thing could tip this to them if it can hunt down enough engines before we can mass for a strong enough counter attack-" She cut him off.

"No."

"No?" He whispered. The hologram flickered as his voids were hit and the power feeds fluctuated.

"No, Eisen Surtur. I will deploy my forces into a holding pattern and redeploy myself to meet this…abomination.", she hissed with loathing. "This bastard thing that used to be our brother. The better part of their strength is broken here so the best they'll be able to do is go into a defensive stance for a while. Even with these reinforcements I doubt they could halt the advance here for very long."

"You've routed them that completely?" he asked.

"I trapped the better part of their strength and annihilated the beasts not too long ago. If they will have a victory it will not be in this sector. That murderer will be mine." Legio Mortis were the mortal enemies of Ignatum beyond even the hatred reserved only for traitor Mechanicus. When they had walked in defense of the Emperor, it was they who finally managed to break through the walls of the palace on Terra. That was a slight they had never forgiven. Diagnostic date flowed from his titan. "You look pretty beat up Eisen. Return to the repair and re-arming sites so that we don't lose a valuable Warlord and her crew. Just tell me what it's doing."

"Right now, idly butchering anything stupid enough to shoot at it and harrying our retreating forces with long range fire."

"Thank you. Stay alive, and don't crash your titan." She said with a wry grin. He smiled in return before he blinked out of existence.

Duran would definitely enjoy ending its miserable reign of terror here. To rob the Archenemy of another of their dwindling number of such great and rare weapons would be an added bonus.

"My moderati, transmit my orders for a holding pattern to the rest of the Front. Command is temporarily ceded to Zacharias on the _Cerberus_. Give me a sit-rep on our weapons and void status in twenty seconds. Push us to flank speed toward the west flank."

"As you will, my princeps." They answered in unison.

Soon the god-machine was crushing whole swaths of the endless forests native to the planet as _Megarion _made its way westward. Via the noosephere, the wireless information network, the battlefield updates streamed into Duran's mind constantly.

Though the auspex coverage was still spotty thanks to scrap code interference she could more clearly see the picture building because of the corrupted monster's presence. As the outmatched Imperials fell back those formations unable to fall back quickly enough to avoid its wrath suffered heavy casualties. The 36th Cadian Shock Regiment and 197th Mordian Armored were horrendously punished and Duran gritted her teeth and how long it was taking to reach them. Good Imperial soldiers were dying out there.

All weapons look green, fully charged and loaded. A small flush of coolant has refreshed the Hellstorm canon to normal levels. Voids have taken minor abrasions but these will be repaired by the time we reach the Third Front's location. Ratcheri canted.

Even as the duels of giants and gods commenced vast armies of mere mortals, thousands of their smaller war machines, and their Angels of Death clashed in numbers beyond counting and the dead were legion. Smaller combatants scurried out of the way if they wished to avoid being crushed by the massive admantium tread of the Titan. Lighter Chaos engines fled at her approach allowing previously contested ground to be won by Imperial troops as their supporting engines massacred the Archenemy forces.

There were some foolish enough to challenge her of course. She was relatively fresh since very few things could give an Emperor-Class Imperator a decent fight in a one-on-one battle. The name of the thing that tried was a twisted Warlord that screamed its name as it finished off a Reaver from the Legio Xerxes contingent. Damaged, shields flickering at barely maintained existence, it collapsed after the brutal Chaos engine blasted away one of its knees that caused the venerable titan to crash to the ground in defeat.

_Impious Proditor_! Blared from speakers mounted on something that nearly made her weep. Titans were artifacts of ancient technology invented in ages past but also as holy representations of the power of the God-Emperor made steel, the Omnissiah. What stood before her was a travesty almost beyond words.

From what it had been the noble machine was now a spiked monstrosity, pitch-black carapace with large patches of rust visible. Fluid leaked copiously from loose cabling and careless maintenance. On something of that scale it spoke of monumental neglect and disrespect towards what had once been pure, and the ultimate corruption into what it now was.

The loathing for those who would betray the Imperium, and treat such a relic so poorly, was doubled when they were close enough to recognize the colors of the Legio Mortis. The admantium hull was covered with pockmarks that oozed filth. Dark and twisted sigils were daubed all over the carapace that hurt to look at and there were strange things of white chained together that adorned the shoulder pauldrons…it was with horror that she realized they were human skeletons. It staggered drunkenly forward and began firing a Gatling blaster.

_Impious Proditor_! the bastardized titan howled again.

"Shut up." Duran said contemptuously as the barrage of shells clipped away at the voids surrounding her titan with little effect. The shield screens protecting the Imperator were of such cohesion and performance that it would take the firepower to slay scores of titans merely to breach them. _Proditor's_ cockpit section was made in the shape of a cruelly grinning skull crowned with the bones of its victims.

Void integrity of the target is weak. the Sensori reported.

Aim the primary left! Duran ordered. This thing needs to be put out of its misery. The Plasma Annihilator rose to paint the targeting reticule on the abdominal section of the twisted thing. Inside the massive barrel plasma started pouring forward like a violent river before retching forth in a tremendous comet of achingly bright energy.

It smashed into the stomach of the steadily advancing Archenemy titan while it was in mid-step. The remaining voids valiantly tried to stop it as they flared in defiance of the bolt of plasma before it finally snapped out of existence with a sudden flash. Far from spent the comet gutted the demonic machine, shuddering before it finally burned through the chest of the _Proditor_. Power relays blew out around the neck and limbs as it was overloaded by the sheer trauma.

Lethe realized that the reactor itself had been incinerated by the blast and it teetered powerlessly as a sixth of the mass had just disappeared. "Engine-kill." she said. There was a solemn silence. A general murmur of approval was heard around the cockpit.

Let's keep moving. canted Duran. They were very close to their destination and she didn't want to waste any more time. Then she saw it. Far off in the distance, the shadow of a dark titan who had come to crush those who opposed its masters appeared. Duran bared her teeth and seethed at the insult to the Omnissiah. It bellowed a challenge to _Megarion _through its loud speakers. Before long the two great titans faced each other at a distance normally considered suicidal for engine warfare, especially for Imperators, at only 900 meters and the distance continued to dwindle.

_Magnus Fuscus_ was stenciled jaggedly, a name that had been reviled and feared for ten thousand years since it rebelled and gave its service to the Ruinous Powers, rebelling against the Emperor and retreating into the Eye of Terror. It had been warped beyond recognition, looking particularly foul even for an engine serving Chaos.

_Death to the false Emperor!_ it screamed at them through its loud speakers. Hateful banners listing the names of Imperial titans it had _murdered_, the slaughters it had inflicted upon the Imperium in many victories for the Dark Gods, planets despoiled. More than one lip curled in disgust at the abomination standing before them. _For the Plague Lord, the Master of Decay! Glory for Chaos! Fuscus _blared. The armament it bore was enough to reduce a hive to ashes, with a volcano canon that was a slow firing lance weapon that hurled immensely powerful las beams at any target. _Death to the False Emperor!Fuscus _repeated.

"Enemy is firing!" warned Lethe. _Megarion _rocked back under the tremendous impact and Duran cried out as psycho-stigmatic burn appeared on her stomach. Outside the air roiled with the flames from the detonation of the great amount of las that had just struck her. She started to dodge a second spear of light that crackled past her right shoulder, wide off the mark and she smiled slightly. _Looks like the stabilizers aren't in perfect order_.

Lethe and Ratcheri both handled one of the main arm weapons, ministering to them in battle and taking the shots with them on the order of their princeps if she wasn't able to control them directly during a battle. Give me an overcharged shot from the Hellstorm, and then hit the same area with several more times before it overloaded.

Within a moment the roar of coalescing power sounded as the Hellstorm fired a blast beyond its normal capabilities… searing blasts smashed into the chest of a laughing _Magnus_. It had fired too soon, now Duran would make them pay for that mistake. _Magnus _was sent reeling from the salvo as it stumbled back a few steps as layers of its shielding collapsed under the weight of the onslaught.

Angry scrap code rent the air as it righted itself. Then it leveled a weapon limb glowing with tainted plasma as _Magnus _brought its Volcano canon to bear. Moderati and Princeps swore together.

"Oh Deus." whispered one of the crewmen. A hunter-killer weapon of Titans, it was usually only used when the target's voids were down to take down the vulnerable god-machine with one devastating shot. But even with _Megarion _being relatively unscathed a solid hit from that was going to be a very painful experience.

Time seemed to come to a standstill…the crimson-orange dagger of the Volcano's lance ripping towards them faster than even Duran's highly modified eyes could follow. It smashed into the throat and chin of her titan, causing Duran's head to snap back in sympathy to the vicious impact. The cockpit shook like it was in the grip of an angry god while the invisible barrier of the voids flashed with brilliance as it strove to withstand the fury unleashed against it. By instinct the machine spirit of_ Megarion _bent its knees and leaned forward to weather the immense pressure of the weapon's strike straining the inertial dampeners.

There were several bursts of sparks from overloaded consoles and wiring panels in the ceiling. One adept was set ablaze by his own terminal when it exploded, screaming as he was immolated by electrical fire. Lethe writhed in agony as pain erupted from the links to _Megarion_ as it suffered gasping as she tried to get past the pain to think again. Peering behind her she saw that Duran was suspended in her amniotic fluid, floating with her face down with blood streams flowing slowly away from her face.

After a moment she lifted her head slowly to reveal a deep gash on her forehead with blood leaking from her mouth. Well…that was unpleasant. she canted weakly. Duran began to shiver as the chemical stimms, anti-fatigue boosters, and mood boosters flooded her system from the fluid in her tank. The rest of the bridge crew were shaking with emergency shunts of the drugs to bring them back into a state where they could fight with dangerously concoctions of chemicals in their blood streams.

_Magnus _was walking towards them arrogantly with a slight limp in its step. It was going to get close and finish them because it thought that it stunned _Megarion _long enough to take its time. To the arrogant masters of that corrupted machine the fight was already over. Ratcheri sneered. "Arrogant bastards."

Duran felt strength coming back to her limbs and her lips formed into a cruel smile that radiated the cold determination she now felt. This would end _now_. "Damage report."

"Our voids took a beating, my princeps. Upper central plexus has a thirty-six percent loss in integrity but all generators report minimum damage from system overloads. Decks seventeen through twenty-four report are calling for response teams for severe damage. Weapon lines to the reactor are all green."

Their towering nemesis approached slowly, still unaware of the recovery of _Megarion _from the powerful lance strike that had stunned them into inaction. He must have suffered just as much when we hit 'em with the Hellstorm, what do their voids look like? asked Duran.

The Sensori, new at his post, quickly repliedThe barrage really punished _Magnus _at the pelvis area, my princeps. Their attempting to compensate with regeneration but the generator covering that area was damaged and won't be able to handle serious punishment.

Duran's lips formed into a cold, hard smile. Give me control of the Annihilator.

Though surprised the moderati obeyed and slaved the massive weapon to her while she waited for the right moment…and then it came. Her enemy was so close she that she could make out the smaller tentacles of fleshy corruption that writhed all over the armored carapace of the monster. Just as it started to bring its weapon limbs up from their rest positions, she swung the Annihilator up and loosed a powerful couple of shots too fast for the other engine to even react.

Twin suns blazed into the gut of the titan in mid-step, a cataclysmic explosion soon tore through the air with enough blow back to rock _Megarion _back on its heels. In a brilliant flash Duran witnessed the horror of catastrophic shield failure as the weakened field attempted to compensate for the thin sections near the pelvis. Unable to withstand the surprise assault the void shields collapsed, with a roar of rage-filled agony ringing through the air.

After a moment she could see _Magnus _wheeling backwards. She had modified her titan, as normally an Emperor-type titan did not carry close combat weapons, to wield power claws slung under the Plasma Annihilator. She started to increase her pace, feeling the powerful beats of _Megarion_'s nuclear heart surging with her own as the claws slid forward into an active position. Deadly energies crackled about them, many meters wide and even greater length, the fields now shrouding them allowed them to pierce armor with ease.

The Hellstorm fired once more into the face of the right shoulder, causing the flailing Archenemy engine to buck up. Then she uttered a thunderous cry in tune with the rumbling of _Megarion _as she rammed the claws home straight into the head section of the other titan. There was a screeching of tortured metal as it sheared through and _Magnus _bucked at the violence of its mind being destroyed so brutally. Soon the spasming ceased. Duran blasted if off with a direct shot to the cranium, shattering it as it was tossed like a discarded doll from the impaling blades of her power claws.

Order the skitarii to move up and secure the wreckage. Sweep and extermination protocols. Duran ordered tiredly. Her body bore a multitude of wounds in sympathy to her engine, and today had take a lot out of her.

Ratcheri spoke rapidly in binary to the Nerat's division has been moving up behind us. They will be here in less than ten minutes to purge the area of any trace of the Dark Mechanicum. he said. He brought up a weary sleeved arm to wipe the sweat from his face.

Collectively the battle had exhausted everyone. Their bodies shivered coming down from the artificial highs of stimms and adrenaline. Duran was notified that a fresh Ignatum battle group was coming to relieve them.

We have an incoming transmission from…the…the…" Lethe paused for a moment, unbelieving.

From who? Duran canted irritably.

The Warmaster. said Lethe. Duran swore softly. _Not a moment's rest, for us weary soldiers._

"Put him through." Duran said, using her flesh voice again. The holo projector still worked so soon she was treated to a smaller than life figure of Warmaster Macaroth.

"I simply wished to give you thanks for the exemplary service you performed today, Princeps Mel. This day could have gone a lot worse had you not been present." he said with a weary smile. She could his fatigue and saw sadly how he confirmed her previous thought. The Warmaster of the Sabaat Worlds Crusade was definitely among the most sleep deprived individuals, if not the most, in the galaxy.

"It was my duty, Warmaster. You yourself have done many heroic acts that dozens of heroes dream of accomplishing. Yet you remain humble."

"My humility stems from my lack of energy to brag." He replied with a chuckle. Duran grinned. "But once again, I have to thank you. Now return to the rest area so you can re-arm and rest, Princeps. I can't afford to lose a warrior as valuable as you. Consider it an order."

"If duty calls, I suppose we must answer." that got a short bark of laughter out of him.

"Goodbye Princeps. I shall speak to you again soon but for now we both must attend to our duties." With a bow, his projection winked out of existence. There was silence for a few moments before life returned to the bridge. Duran began the journey back, thinking of how tired the Warmaster had looked.

Even if, or when, they won the Crusade for the Sabaat Worlds, she felt sorrow for the many good people who would have to sacrifice to allow the victory to happen. On this world alone countless heroes had already given their lives. At that moment she made an oath to the God-Emperor made steel, that she would make their deaths count for something. Their deaths would not be in vain.


End file.
